Slashdot Mirror
Wild Parrots Learning To Talk From Escaped Pet Birds
bazzalunatic writes "Be careful what you teach a parrot. Some chatty pet parrots that have escaped back into the wild have taught wild parrots to talk. Seems the phenomenon could be integrated into the flock through generations. From the article: 'The evolution of language could well be passed on through the generations, says Ken. "If the parents are talkers and they produce chicks, their chicks are likely to pick up some of that," he says. This phenomenon is not unique; some lyrebirds in southern Australia still reproduce the sounds of axes and old shutter-box cameras their ancestors once learnt.'" While this doesn't reach the amazing level of Washoe the chimpanzee teaching sign language, it is still interesting and reminiscent of something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Maybe they really are pining for the fyords.
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
Rise of the Planet of the Parrots
You would think that entropy would degrade any language learned pretty quickly, but those lyrebirds seem to demonstrate that sort of behavior sticks rather than fades rapidly.
Makes me wonder how small a trigger was required to spark human speech evolution. At one time, we probably weren't all that different than these lyrebirds/parrots.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
Parrots learn words but not language. Associating words with rewards through Pavlovian training is not communication. Clearly spoken gibberish is still gibberish.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
One of Washoe's caretakers was pregnant and missed work for many weeks after she miscarried. Roger Fouts recounts the following situation:
"People who should be there for her and aren't are often given the cold shoulder--her way of informing them that she's miffed at them. Washoe greeted Kat [the caretaker] in just this way when she finally returned to work with the chimps. Kat made her apologies to Washoe, then decided to tell her the truth, signing "MY BABY DIED". Washoe stared at her, then looked down. She finally peered into Kat's eyes again and carefully signed "CRY", touching her cheek and drawing her finger down the path a tear would make on a human. (Chimpanzees don't shed tears.) Kat later remarked that that one sign told her more about Washoe and her mental capabilities than all her longer, grammatically perfect sentences."[22]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_%28chimpanzee%29
Damn, that's incredible
They actually know the point of what they are saying. My birds know our names, say thinks like "thank you" when they want something, "night night" when they want their cage covered, "hello" when the phone rings, "water" when they want to be sprayed, and say "don't bark" when my dog barks.
While E.Starlings are not as talented at it as other mimics, they can achieve a somewhat 'bad recording' style mimic of the human voice. They're also the ones notorious for producing large undulating clouds in the sky (consisting of thousands if not, in extreme cases, millions of birds.) Point being, I've always wanted to somehow snag a gigantic flock of these birds and train them all to say something creepy like 'i'll get you' before releasing them back into the wild.
Teach them "Help! Help! They've turned me into a parrot!"
I know a parrot that has put together new phrases to describe objects that he is unfamiliar with. He enjoys having water misted or sprayed lightly on him, and will ask for a 'shower'. However, he dislikes being outside in the rain. whenever he hears or sees rain outside, he proclaims 'bad shower' but was never taught that. he uses the same tonal inflection that he uses when he calls the dog over then says 'bad dog. go lay down'. He can be a jerk sometimes.
This signature is a waste of 42 characters
Parrots (and even chimps) only mimic. They do not actively teach.
You obviously don't have much experience here.
He is just parroting what he has heard on the subject.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Check out Clever Hans and then ask yourself why people demand extraordinary evidence.
Personally, I don't think humans are all that special. We're ruled much more by our lower/base instincts than we like to admit. Most of what appears to ourselves like free will appears (from research) to be post-hoc rationalization rather than actual free will.
HAND.
Have Dr. Sbaitso read a hex dump of your backups to your parrot an let him go. You'll have redundant backups forever.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
I own a grey and have been closely monitoring and researching them for awhile now. Some challenge that they are merely simple birds with amusing mimic capabilities however what is discounted is their highly intelligent behavior developed from their unique evolutionary situations. In the wild monkeys try to steal thier eggs so they learn combinations of shrieking tailored to scare a particular monkey away. I see this behavior with my grey telling my dog to "get down" or "leave it" when he starts sniffing around his cage. They spend a lot of time around watering holes foraging and such. they are able to locate threats from reflections in the water and indicate they can identify their own reflection. Dogs do not have this cognitive ability. Further they are experts at cracking complicated nuts making them incredible puzzle solvers. I have given strange nuts and other puzzles to my bird before and noticed him slowly unravelling and breaking it down. They love to tear things apart. Mine has even figured out how to open his lock and roam free around the house.